Testimonials
Check out what P4SPR users have to say
Enabling assay development for POC testing
I come from 7+ years running a clinical research lab. I ran a wide range of clinical tests on biological samples such as ELISA, PCR, electrophoresis but not SPR. However, it did not stop me from being highly proficient in the technique. The P4SPR was just easy to learn despite my lack of direct knowledge. Basically, after a half-a-day training, I was autonomous within a day and very comfortable with data within a week. It took me about a month to perform an analytical validation for a new target and validate it with clinical samples. I believe it was faster to develop our assay compared to ELISA.
- Sepi, Ph.D., Clinical Assay Development scientist, Startup
Accelerating research for a graduate student
Prior to working with the P4SPR, I had a labour-intensive experience working with a different SPR platform. Some of the key issues were low throughput, single channel, lack of reference and long signal stabilisation time. Accessing the P4SPR platform at my bench helped probing for protein interacting partners much faster and simpler. I estimate that I can achieve similar screening results at least twice as fast with P4SPR. Having access to this platform earlier in my Ph.D. would have greatly accelerate my research on protein-protein interactions.
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- Cory, Ph.D. Candidate in Biochemistry, Concordia University
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First testing of surface anchored engineered antibodies on SARS-CoV-2 virus samples in BSL3 settings
The EU funded CorDial-S proposes a novel and innovative solution to address the need of fast and sensitive sensing for the presence/absence of SARS-CoV-2 in saliva samples. It is based on the use of innovative surface receptors linked to plasmonic interfaces as well as to magnetic nanoparticles for virus pre-concentration and magnetic field enhanced SPR sensing. With the aim of performance validation in a clinical setting a highly sensitive portable SPR device was required. With P4SPR, we were able to reach this goal in a short time as the concept could be validated in BSL3 settings using cultured SARS-CoV-2 virus particles and their mutants. We are currently testing a panel of more than 200 clinical samples. Comparison with PCR is under way and will help to validate the concept.
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- Sabine, Professor of Chemistry & Camille, Chemical Engineer at Université de Lille
Helping COVID-19 research
In April 2020, my lab started working on antibody test for COVID-19. At that time, SARS-CoV-2 proteins and antibodies commercially available were poorly characterized. For assay development, we needed a rapid solution to optimize biosensing conditions. With P4SPR, we were able to establish optimal immobilization conditions of SARS-CoV-2 spike and nucleocapsid within 2-3 SPR runs. Having the device at our bench also really helped comparing our SPR results against ELISA. Eventually, we developed an SPR test for neutralizing antibodies we tested on a panel of more than 40 clinical samples.
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- Abdelhadi, M.Sc., Research Assistant, Université de Montréal
Self-directed thesis
My department acquired a P4SPR at the beginning of my Master’s degree. I was thrilled as it provided me the opportunity to be hands-on with my research. I used the P4SPR for low throughput screening of a small set of aptamers developed by our lab. The device was intuitive to use and the software was generating the key data points during my runs which saved me post-acquisition data processing. Although the device was shared across three labs, it was quite practical to relocate the device to my bench when needed. Without the P4SPR, I would have sent my samples to a centralized lab and lost the opportunity to learn first hand.
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- Shahad, Ph.D. Candidate, Carleton University
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Studying self-assembled monolayers
My post-doctoral research focuses on characterizing new molecules forming self-assembled monolayer for biosensing. Although my lab had a large SPR device, we could not use it as running organic solutions would void the warranty. Therefore, we acquired a P4SPR for its flexible components, particularly solvent chamber and injection ports, that we easily modified for our needs. We studied SAM formations over 12 hours in organic solvents such as methanol and acetonitrile. We were able to setup SPR under the fumehood to avoid toxic fumes in the lab. The collected SPR data provided unique insights on the SAM formation we were able to correlate with biosensing data.
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- Srijit, Post-doctoral fellow in Chemistry, Queen's University
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